Concerns from Activists Prompt Rutgers to Review Its “Disruption” Policy

By JACK MURTHA

June 16, 2017 at 2:54 PM

Content Options

Carimer Andujar, an undocumented Rutgers student and activist, speaks against revisions to a policy governing the line between demonstrations and disruptions in the spring by the Board of Governors.

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University President Robert Barchi said recent revisions to a longstanding policy governing the line between a protest and a disruption haven’t clamped down on political speech and activities on campus.

But the school’s faculty union and other activists—including Carimer Andujar, the rising senior and undocumented immigrant whose status here was recently questioned by federal immigration authorities—disagree. They attended yesterday’s June 15 Board of Governors meeting in New Brunswick to voice various concerns with the updated policy, specifically a provision against demonstrations that interfere with vehicle or pedestrian traffic.

In response, the board’s incoming chair, Sandy Stewart, said he and the administration will further review the policy change.

“I would like to sit down with [Barchi] and see what we can resolve with that,” Stewart said. “We’ll discuss it. We’ll go back to the committee.”

Two resolutions in question, which the board approved in April, define what constitutes a disturbance that violates Rutgers policy. Among other things, the revisions list a number of actions—from obstructing traffic and damaging property to disrupting university business—that infringe upon the rights of others, according to the policy.

Rutgers used to define a disruption as anything that interfered with people’s right to go about their business or other university activities. The new rules tightened the language to include more specific definitions, according to the document.

The policy also champions the university’s belief in freedom of expression and its significance in academia. But activists saw the regulations as a threat to those values.

“As a university—which is supposed to be a beacon for the free exchange of ideas, a place where we can safely and civilly exchange those and express ourselves—it’s a very, very poor move to create a new policy that is more specific and represses things,” said Rob Scott, a professor who studies human evolution.

Andujar, meanwhile, said she benefitted from protests that could be barred under the policy. When her status in this country came into question, activists staged a rally at Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus and one outside the federal building in Newark.

“We’re more or less concerned with how this is going to be carried out, and if there are going to be certain biases toward certain students,” Andujar said.

Over the past academic year, Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus has come alive with protests, most of them against U.S. President Donald Trump and his policies.

During the meeting, activists claimed the revised policy would ban protests like the Jan. 31 #NoBanNoWall rally, which resulted in road closures as demonstrators marched through the streets.

Prior the march, Barchi delivered a speech at that event, rousing the roughly 2,000 people in attendance.

The Rutgers president noted that, following the policy’s adoption, protests and marches occurred on and near the campus. Some obstructed traffic, he said, but he didn’t declare them a disruption.

“Basically, there is no difference between these two,” Barchi said of the former and current policies, “in terms of what you as a student may or may not do.”

Before the meeting, David Hughes, the head of the AAUP-AFT faculty union, sent a letter to the Board of Governors lambasting the disruption policy. What’s more, he claimed, it was developed without consultation from the faculty union and other campus groups and bodies.

“The resultant policy threatens to undermine political, religious and other forms of speech on campus,” Hughes wrote, “and, thereby, to narrow the creativity and plurality of opinion characteristic of Rutgers.”

At one point, Barchi asked Hughes a yes-or-no question: If the board removed language regarding what, exactly, defines a disruption, would the faculty union be OK with the policy?

Hughes said it would be an improvement, but he continued to push for the board to rescind the resolutions.

Once again, Barchi argued, cutting that section wouldn’t make much of a difference. Rather, he said, it would make the policy more vague.

The president said only he and one other administrator have the authority to label a gathering or action a disruption.

“That puts it at a very, very high bar,” he said.

Barchi acknowledged that his administration didn’t reach out to Hughes and the faculty union when crafting the policy. He said a board member who oversees Rutgers’ senate was involved in the process, but then that man, Peter Gillett, said he didn’t attend the meeting in which it was discussed.

NEW BRUNSWICK - Deep in a tropical forest in Borneo 15 years ago, Rutgers student Didik Prasetyo first encountered a young male orangutan that he named “Jerry.”

The great ape was one of several orangutans that Prasetyo and other researchers followed at the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station in the Mawas Conservation Area in Indonesia. Prasetyo was skeptical when colleagues said ...

Note: TAPInto New Brunswick is partnering with New Brunswick High School for an ongoing journalism education project. Below is coverage of today's rally from the perspective of a student journalist who attended.

NEW BRUNSWICK - Today, approximately 1,700 students commemorated the 17 lives taken in the Parkland, Fl. school shooting by attending an outdoor ...

NEW BRUNSWICK – Students at the city high school and middle school left their classrooms Wednesday for ceremonies marking the one-month anniversary of the shooting at a Florida high school where a former student shot and killed 17 people.

Outside New Brunswick High School, the young people walked out of the building at 10 a.m., participating in one of more than a dozen similar ...

NEW BRUNSWICK - Rutgers University officials have often been wary of the governor's annual budget message, wondering what type of budget cuts the university may sustain and how it would potentially impact tuition and the overall quality of education.

This budget message, delivered March 13, appears to be a sigh of relief.

NEW BRUNSWICK - Over of the last five years, Mark Van Burik received quarterly water bills for the four-unit house he owns on Comstock Street and rents out to college students, with each quarter's bill averaging about $525. That was until the last quarter.

In February, Van Burik got a bill for the finally three months 2017, only this time the total was $8,117.07.

TRENTON - New Jersey, one of the only employers who pays its workers for unused sick time, and then appears mystified when it struggles to balance its budget, may finally be capping sick-leave payouts. The proposal, obviously unpopular with labor unions, has been discussed before, but not with traction. It is back in the mix again, to cap payouts ...

ON THE RAILS - Another commuting mess this morning, as the antiquated Portal Bridge got stuck in the "up" position at 4:22 a.m. That caused a bunch of rush hour trains to be cancelled between Newark and Manhattan for four hours or so. Both NJTransit and Amtrak riders were completely screwed. You may recall the proposed Gateway ...

NEW BRUNSWICK - When you rent out apartments to Rutgers students, expect some surprises. But one landlord received a shocker beyond expectation: a $8,117.07 water bill for the last three months of 2017, TAPInto New Brunswick reports. The landlord went to the City Council meeting this week, pleading that the bill on his Comstock Street ...

TRENTON - Ever since we met Gov. Phil Murphy, he has been talking about the same stuff: higher taxes for the rich, saving NJ Transit, legalizing marijuana, giving more money to public schools and a higher minimum wage. So, when lawmakers went to Trenton yesterday to hear the rookie governor's first budget message, there weren't a lot of ...

TRENTON - As Gov. Phil Murphy prepares to deliver his first budget address at 2 p.m. today, at the State House, observers will be curious if his proposals jive with the state's pension mess. Look for the governor to talk about campaign topics like equal pay, health care, climate change, immigration and offshore drilling, as well as the proposed ...

NEW BRUNSWICK - If you want to succeed in New Jersey, you need to figure out, to some degree, what all these millennials are thinking. New Jersey Future tried to get to the answer, during a recent day-long event in New Brunswick that NJ Spotlight covered. Bottom line? Our millennials are fleeing and that is bad. We need them to buy ...

NEW BRUNSWICK - Deep in a tropical forest in Borneo 15 years ago, Rutgers student Didik Prasetyo first encountered a young male orangutan that he named “Jerry.”

The great ape was one of several orangutans that Prasetyo and other researchers followed at the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station in the Mawas Conservation Area in Indonesia. Prasetyo was skeptical when colleagues said ...

NEW BRUNSWICK - Rutgers University officials have often been wary of the governor's annual budget message, wondering what type of budget cuts the university may sustain and how it would potentially impact tuition and the overall quality of education.

This budget message, delivered March 13, appears to be a sigh of relief.

NEW BRUNSWICK – Music, cultures and lifestyles will be celebrated in the city all year, with festivals and special events scheduled for weekends from April through October, including the city’s first day to highlight yoga.

City council members this week approved permits for nine events, starting with the traditional Rutgers Day Parade on April 28, which will start on Senior Place ...

OPINION

Dear Editor: As speech-language pathologists across New Jersey prepare to mark “National March into Literacy Month,” let’s address the alarming number of young children who spend countless hours a day on a handheld screen.

According to a study from the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting, the more time that children under two years spend on smartphones, tablets and ...

NEWARK - The National Association of Health Underwriters (NAHU) is proud to announce that the New Jersey Association of Health Underwriters has once again received Gold Certification – awarded to the strongest chapters in the nation.

NJAHU achieved Gold Certification from national headquarters underscoring how well the organization has operated and achieved its lofty goals in the ...